Veteran nitro Funny Car owner/driver Bob Bode confirmed to CompetitionPlus.com he plans to have his son, Bobby, 18, compete in a 10-race schedule in 2021 in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.

“The last couple of months we’ve been putting parts together, short blocks and heads,” Bob said. “We’re planning to start the season in Gainesville (Fla.).”

The Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville March 12-14 is the season-opening national event.

Bobby Bode, driving his father’s Funny Car he bought from Tim Wilkerson, completed his license in St. Louis Oct. 5.

A win is a win, and for Funny Car racer Paul Lee, he'll take it.

Lee won the TruHarvest Funny Car division at the recently-completed Virtual Reality Hot Rod Association Thunder at the Dome event, the fourth of nine fan-vote events this season. He's yet to win a nitro race in real-life since making the jump in the early 2000s from alcohol funny cars.

Joining Lee in the winner's circle at the fantasy-themed CompetitionPlus.com Thunderdome was T.J. Zizzo (McLeod Top Fuel), Alex Laughlin (Quartermax Pro Stock), Matt Smith (Denso Pro Stock), and Rickie Smith (Jerry Bickel Race Cars Pro Modified).

It's race day at the CompetitionPlus.com Thunderdome located in Spartanburg, SC. Qualifying is complete, now it's time to begin the process of eliminating down for a winner of the Truharvest Thunder at the Dome, Race 4 of 9 in the Virtual Reality Hot Rod Association. 

It's all fun in fantasy land to get away from the troubles of what is happening in the real world. 

For those new to this fantasy world, this is how it works. The race with the most votes advances to the next round. We had a day of voting to seed the eight-car fields. 

First-round ends tonight at 6 PM EST. 

Veteran Funny Car owner Dale Creasy Sr., has passed away, on Dec. 29, at the age of 81.

Creasy, who died Dec. 29 at age 81, fielded a long line of Illinois-based Tyrant Funny Cars stretching back to the early 1970s, and his legacy continues today with son Dale Jr., who is still competing in the class.

Creasy’s cars, predominately Fords, were wheeled in the 1970s through the 1990s by drivers such as Al Marshall, Dick Bourgeois, Larry LaDue, and, most famously by Gary Bolger, and were staples of the Midwest match racing scene and the Coca-Cola Cavalcade of Stars circuit. (Bolger, who had his own car, the Gold Digger, was first recruited to drive for

Not that anyone wants to look back on 2020, but our media partners over at WFORadio.com conducted one of the first interviews with CompetitionPlus.com founder and publisher Bobby Bennett not long after his release from the hospital. 

It was a challenging time for our sport, as drag racing had been shut down in the midst of pandemic. In many ways, Bennett became the first face the sport could relate to who had endured the deadly effects of the Coronavirus and lived to talk about it. Not all cases were severe, but for Bennett the experience was anything but mild.

Justin Ashley Racing announced today world championship-winning crew chief Mike Green has joined the Strutmasters.com/Auto Shocker Top Fuel dragster team. The move comes as Ashley looks ahead to the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and a serious run at the NHRA Top Fuel world championship. Green replaces veteran tuner Aaron Brooks who tuned Ashley to his first win and a top ten finish in the shortened 2020 NHRA season.

“Adding Mike Green to our team provides us with an opportunity to take our program to the next level,” said Ashley. “Mike is a championship winning crew chief with a championship winning mentality. It is a perfect fit. I am grateful to Mike for deciding to join our racing family. I am looking forward to learning from his invaluable knowledge and experience throughout the season. Our goal is to race together for many years to come.”

“I have a tremendous amount of respect and gratitude for Aaron on a personal and professional level. I have known Aaron for a long time and my feelings about him will never change. He’s an outstanding crew chief and a great person. We accomplished a lot together during a short period of time. I am looking forward to watching him have continued success in the sport for years to come,” added Ashley.

Drag racing is a goal-oriented sport. However, for Top Fuel Harley-Davidson rider Rich Vreeland, what he achieved aboard his nitro-burner in 2020 while racing the All Harley Davidson Drag Racing Association [AHDRA] went well beyond what he expected.

“When I got my first AHDRA license in 1992, I never dreamed I would be Top Fuel champion 28 years later,” Vreeland admitted.

Back then, Vreeland and his brother Ray had just opened Vreeland’s Harley-Davidson in 1990 as the youngest dealers ever for the brand.

The 2020 Camping World NHRA season will never be forgotten because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the craziness and uncertainty of the season, it was quite memorable for Aaron Stanfield.

The Bossier City, La., native won his first career NHRA Pro Stock national event in Houston and captured the SAMTech.edu Factory Stock Showdown season championship with five wins in six races in the Janac Brothers COPO Camaro.

For good measure, he won the Division 4 Top Dragster title in his family-owned dragster.